Box Score (Aurora, Ill.) – The Missouri S&T volleyball team dropped its opener in the sixth annual GLVC/GLIAC Crossover Tournament to Saginaw Valley 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 17-25, 20-25) on Friday afternoon at the Great Lakes Center in Aurora, Ill.

The Miners (12-10) used an 8-1 run to break a 5-5 tie and gain control of the opening set. Saginaw Valley (13-7) cut the S&T lead to 21-19 on an attack error by Holly Tarvin (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs) and forced the Miners to take a timeout. After the timeout S&T scored four of the last five points to take the opener.

In the second frame the Cardinals scored eight of the first 11 points and forced the Miners to take an early timeout. S&T responded with six straight points to take its first lead of the set. The Miners stretched their lead to 18-13 and appeared to be in control of the stanza, but a 5-1 run by Saginaw Valley cut the deficit to 19-18. S&T stretched its lead back to 22-20 before the Cardinals scored the final five points of the frame to even the match at 1-1.

The Cardinals got off to another fast start in the third set scoring six of the first seven points and wouldn't look back. The Miners closed to within 18-17 on an attack error by Makenzie Frodle, but just like the second set Saginaw Valley scored the last seven points to come away with the 25-17 win.

In the fourth frame the Cardinals led from start to finish building a five point advantage midway through. S&T closed to within 22-20 on a kill from Tarvin; however, the Miners wouldn't get any closer as Saginaw Valley scored the final three points of the match taking advantage of two Miner errors to grab the 25-20 win.

S&T finished the match with an attack percentage of .118 (48k/30e/153ta). Krista Haslag (Linn, Mo./Helias ) finished with 14 kills in 26 attempts while Gracey Moon (Kirkwood, Mo./Kirkwood) added nine kills. Hayley Wright (Omaha, Neb./Millard West) and Shelby Wagner (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit) contributed eight kills apiece. Allie Plunk (Hurst, Texas/Birdville) dished out 33 assists while Caitlin Brocker (Crystal Lake, Ill./Marian Central ) dug up 18 balls.

The Cardinals hit .178 (51k/25e/146ta) for the match and was led by Kelsey Ferla and Ashley Driscoll with 14 and 10 kills respectively. Kelly Vellucci distributed 24 assists and Brooke Tiller finished with 21 digs.

The Miners are back in action on Saturday morning taking on Northern Michigan at 10 a.m., and then will face Ashland at 4 p.m.